These are a collection of notes on all the IEB Grade 12 Final Poems. This note pack contains the following poems:
- The Tenant
- nobody loses all the time
- Moving Through The Silent Crowd
- Cockroaches
- For Oom Piet
- Namaqualand After The Rain
- The Discardment
- Touch
- Mirror
- Stran...
The Tenant 2-6
nobody loses all the time 7-12
Moving Through The Silent Crowd 13-16
Cockroaches 17-20
For Oom Piet 21-25
Namaqualand After The Rain 26-29
The Discardment 30-31
Touch 32-35
Mirror 36-38
Strangers Forever 39-40
Remember 41-43
Go, lovely Rose! 44-47
To me fair friend, you can never be old 48-51
The Sun Rising 52-55
Ozymandias of Egypt 56-60
Will It Be So Again? 61-66
,2 ALL NOTES RIGHTS RESERVED TO CHRISTIAN LEES
THE TENANT
Na Ngulube
There is no room for you
in my heart. The only tenant
who ever lived here left
some luggage behind.
I didn’t even evict her. She
simply left without a word.
I keep hoping she will come
back and collect the luggage
or at least arrange for disposal
clean out the place, throw out
old memories.
I could possibly live with
the marks on the walls. Some
are completely indelible
some I even like.
But you see I am afraid that
if it all goes, what will I do
With all that empty space
Biographical Information:
The writer ‘Na Ngulube’ has virtually no information about them. There are barely
any poems published by them. We are unaware of their gender or where they are
from. It’s assumed that they are from African descent.
Title:
The title is mysterious and misleading as it positions us to think it has something to
do with business, economy. It does not in any way position us to see it as a love
poem. It’s a mysterious title but once we understand the extended metaphor it is a
very good title. It does summarise the speaker's attitude towards the relationship.
The title in my opinion is effective as it relates well to the extended metaphor.
, 3 ALL NOTES RIGHTS RESERVED TO CHRISTIAN LEES
Figures of Speech:
There are 3 extended metaphors which link together:
1. ‘The tenant’ - is very unconventional, very unorthodox and unusual. It is a very
unconventional way to describe an ex-lover. ‘Tenant’ links with the world of
economy, business and of landlords, money, rent. It has no obvious
connotations with love or romance. The poet has used it in a very creative and
intelligent way. It’s clever because the speaker was expecting his lover to stay
permanently or for a long time. He loved her dearly and he had no idea that
she was going to leave. The image of ‘The tenant’ summarises her cold,
unemotional approach and that he never anticipated that she would go but
she did just like a tenant.
2. ‘The luggage’ - describes the memories or the emotional baggage that is left
behind. It also talks about the experiences.
3. ‘The marks on the wall’ - refer to the memories, the experiences and they are
probably more negative, unhappy memories. They can also be seen as stains
as they won't come off. They are real marks but however theoretical at the
same time.
Imagery:
Tenant implies they would be dressed formally and that they are efficient. The image
of a businessman is not perceived as someone who is gentle and romantic. ‘The
luggage’ we think of suitcases but the imagery has to do with emotional baggage
and memories. ‘The marks on the walls’ give us the perception that it is grubby and
dirty. The image we get is of a lonely, confused and isolated man. He seems like a
tragic man as he does not know how to move on and it is as if he does not know how
to move on. ‘Tragic’ traditionally refers to someone who dies. It’s not tragic as no one
died but the relationship died. It’s tragic because he is terribly down, depressed and
melancholic. He is an unconventional tragic speaker. A resident or a tenant, if
something went wrong, the resident would try to fix it but she wasn’t a resident in his
heart as she didn’t try to fix anything making her a tenant leaving the landlord.
PQ: If the poem had been titled ‘The Resident’ how would this make the poem
different from the real title the Tenant?
Tone/Mood:
The speaker's attitude to his former lover is inconsistent, unstable, shifting mood
because at times he is desperately in love with her but in Stanza 3 his attitude is that
he is rejecting her. It’s a tone of longing and yearning.
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